Peter Muchiri

A Revolutionary Game-Changer After graduating from the university with a degree in Accounting, I worked in banking and consulting firms until my wife and I founded Rockbern Coffee in 2012. The reason why I went into the coffee business is that I made a promise to my grandfather who was a very passionate coffee farmer. When I left my village, I promised him that I would make a change within the coffee industry in Kenya. My grandfather passed away in 2008 at the age of 88. If he was alive today, he would be exactly 100 years old. I was born into a coffee farmer’s family, so I understand very well how difficult it is to produce coffees. Driven by this awareness, I am trying to be a revolutionary game-changer in the coffee market in Kenya. The revolution I am talking about here is to connect roasters and farmers to create a win-win relationship. It is a very difficult and painstaking task because there are opponents among multinational corporations, who think that if we promote a direct business model, farmers will become wiser and be more aware of the unfairness of the situation. They fear that farmers’ profit margins will increase multinational corporations’ benefit greatly from the lack of transparency. That is why there are so many opponents. I am slowly making my ideas known to roasters and colleagues. To start a revolution, one needs to be smart, and don’t die for something that has no value. We have to understand what we can do and what we should not do. It’s not enough to just move forward. The Politics of Coffee I understand that...